Knowledge@wharton

Former Revlon CEO Alan Ennis says the challenge today is reaching the right consumer at the right time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

President Obama and the Treasury Department have options available to help them avoid worst-case outcomes at least for the near term according to Wharton’s Franklin Allen. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Reza Aslan’s new book ’Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth ’ paints Jesus as a revolutionary as well as a spiritual leader. Wharton professor G. Richard Shell talked with Aslan about Jesus’s leadership qualities. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Wharton professor G. Richard Shell’s new book Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for Success encourages readers to embrace major transitions in life. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The eurozone’s economy has begun a fragile turnaround since European Central Bank head Mario Draghi announced late last year that the institution would do “whatever it takes” to backstop the euro. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new start-up CommonBond is trying to revolutionize America’s student loan market by offering competitive loans via alumni investors. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This second part of a two-part podcast on the new face of private equity (PE) in Africa looks at the areas of the economy most ripe for growth and also at some business models that PE firms are pursuing. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The executive director of the Wilderness Foundation discusses his organization’s success integrating social programs into its mission and the important role that conservation has to play in Africa’s economic development. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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According to the United Nations tourism organization there were one billion international trips taken during 2012 alone. In a new book titled Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism journalist ElizabethBecker traces the history of tourism and points to the challenges facing the fast-growing industry which currently contributes $6.5 trillion to the world’s economy. In an interview with Knowledge at Wharton Becker discusses the role that both individuals and countries must play as the tourism industry undergoes significant change. (Podcast with transcript) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How did IBM General Electric and other companies become growth leaders? Why is it that some companies lag behind -- and stay behind? Those are the questions that Wharton marketing professor George S. Day asks and answers in his book Innovation Prowess: Leadership Strategies for Accelerating Growth. Recently Day spoke with David Heckman practice leader senior management at the Wharton School’s Aresty Institute of Executive Education about why innovation prowess is the key to growth leadership. (Video with transcript) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A Pew study last year confirmed that U.S. political partisanship has risen sharply. In the face of that trend is it possible for Democrats and Republicans to get along? Wharton professor Philip Tetlock recently spoke with Jonathan Haidt author of The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion to explore this question. Haidt breaks down why it is so hard for liberals and conservatives to understand one another and what can be done to change that. (Video with transcript) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work bestselling authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath argue that humans don’t have a particularly strong track record of making good choices -- whether it is about our careers business matters or our personal lives. Knowledge at Wharton recently had an opportunity to talk with Chip about how widening your options reality-testing your assumptions attaining distance before deciding and preparing to be wrong can make all the difference. (Podcast with transcript) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

According to Barbara Kahn director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at Wharton the increasing popularity of social media has two implications for marketers: First customers now control the message and second companies must make sure that key elements of their brand can translate throughout the world. In a recent interview with Wharton MBA candidate Alexandra Idol Kahn discusses her new book Global Brand Power: Leveraging Branding for Long-Term Growth why the brand is a ”mechanism for growth” and how companies can become more customer focused. (Video with transcript) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In their ebook The Social Entrepreneur’s Playbook Ian C. MacMillan a Wharton management professor and James Thompson director of the Wharton Social Enterprise Program offer specific suggestions to strengthen the effectiveness of social enterprises. In the second of a two-part interview the authors discuss how two African social enterprises -- one in the chicken feeds business and the other in the sanitation industry -- used a five-step process to maximize the social and business impact of their operations. (Video with transcript) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

LEGO has built a global empire and become a household name thanks to the interlocking bricks that its founders developed half a century ago. But the company almost went belly up in the early 2000s due to an innovation binge that took it too far away from what LEGO did best. In a new book Wharton practice professor David Robertson details how thinking too far ”outside the box” almost bankrupted LEGO -- and how the company found a winning formula by turning to innovation ”inside the brick.” (Video with transcript) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Studies put the failure rate of organizational change at 70% or higher. Yet managers face increasing pressure to implement change to meet short- and long-term goals. Gregory P. Shea and Cassie A. Solomon share their approach to dealing with this challenge in Leading Successful Change: 8 Keys to Making Change Work. Jeff Klein director of the Wharton Graduate Leadership Program recently spoke with the authors about why we are not as good at change as we need to be and how we can get better at it. (Video with transcript) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the past few years the United States government has issued fewer regulations and worked to eliminate or improve existing ones. Cass R. Sunstein led many of these changes as administrator for the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. In his new book Simpler: The Future of Government Sunstein talks about how a more streamlined government can improve health lengthen lives and save money. Wharton operations and information management professor Katherine L. Milkman recently spoke with Sunstein about these changes and what the future holds. (Podcast with transcript) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Social entrepreneurs -- those who try to tackle major social problems such as poverty and disease while generating revenues -- are often well-meaning people. But in their desire to make a difference to society they sometimes fail to subject their ideas to rigorous tests. Ian MacMillan a professor of management at Wharton and James Thompson who leads the Wharton Social Enterprise Program have just published an ebook titled The Social Entrepreneur’s Playbook to help entrepreneurs do just that. (Video with transcript) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Global organizations operating in the contemporary business landscape need to tightly link financial rigor and strategic insight. Increasingly senior financial executives are playing influential roles in strategy development and implementation working closely with the CEO and the board to creatively assess and design growth opportunities. The question is: Are CFOs prepared to move beyond the number-crunching function to act and lead in this capacity? Wharton’s Jason Wingard and John Percival discuss this and other issues. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.